By Adriano Marchese

Biogen first-quarter profit and revenue rose buoyed by rising sales from its growth products, led by its drug to treat early Alzheimer's.

Shares of the biotech company rose 4.9% to $192.27 on Wednesday.

Leqembi sales climbed 74% globally to $168 million, helping to generate $851 million in growth products revenue. U.S. in-market sales for the Alzheimer's treatment climbed to $86 million in the latest period.

"Our growth products, which includes Vumerity, generated more revenue in first quarter of 2026 than our remaining MS products," Chief Financial Officer Robin Kramer said in a call with analysts, referring to the company's multiple sclerosis treatment.

Biogen also said the structure of its manufacturing footprint, supply chain, and overall business model positions it to be potentially more resilient to macroeconomic factors and policy uncertainty.

"Currently, based on potential tariffs as announced to-date, we do not expect to see material impact to our business in 2026," Kramer said.

The company, however, lowered its earnings guidance for the full year by $1.00 on both ends, now expecting it to land between $14.25 and $15.25. Analysts on FactSet expect $15.16 a share.

The decline is due to acquired in-process research and development charges from its current business development activities geared toward its growth strategies. The company noted that the guidance doesn't include the impact of its acquisition of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, which is expected to be accretive in 2027, and said that it projects the acquisition to increase the company's adjusted earnings' compounded annual growth rate through the end of the decade.

Biogen also gave its revenue projections for the full year, which is expected to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage compared with the $9.89 billion registered in 2025. Analysts forecast revenue of $9.71 billion.

The company said the decline is due to expected lowered multiple sclerosis product revenue.

For its first quarter, Biogen posted a higher net income of $319.5 million, or $2.15 a share, compared with $240.5 million, or $1.64 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted earnings were $3.57 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting $2.96 a share.

Total revenue rose to $2.48 billion from $2.43 billion, beating forecasts of a decline to $2.25 billion.

Earlier this year, Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis for about $5.6 billion, helping it to build out its portfolio of rare-disease and immune-disease drugs. The deal is slated to close in the current second quarter.

On Wednesday, Kramer said the transaction represents a capital allocation opportunity that will further bolster Biogen's top-line and bottom-line growth prospects

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2026 14:22 ET (18:22 GMT)

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